


I've Known You For An Awfully Long Time

by Yukito



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-27
Updated: 2020-10-27
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:47:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27220711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yukito/pseuds/Yukito
Summary: Gilbert comes to see Anne just before their wedding.
Relationships: Diana Barry/Anne Shirley, Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 8
Kudos: 41
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	I've Known You For An Awfully Long Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [facingthenorthwind (spacegandalf)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacegandalf/gifts).



The sun was cresting over the hill of Green Gables as Anne Shirley stood on the porch of her childhood home and watched the sun rise. It was so beautiful here. In the calmness of mornings like the one before her, she couldn’t help thinking about how lucky she was for that ‘mistake’ all those years before. The thought of Matthew Cuthbert on horse and buggy arriving at the station made her smile and it was only the sound of someone approaching that drew her eyes away from the horizon back down to reality. 

Reality was always a subjective term, she reminded herself as her eyes fell on Gilbert Blythe coming up from the gate. Her already warm smile widened as she turned and waved to him, leaning on the porch railing. The man who had been so utterly frustrating in their childhood and could still bring her blood to a boil if he tried hard enough looked handsome as ever as he made his way up the steps.

“Anne.” He said as he gave her an overly polite nod.

“Gilbert.” She responded back to him, holding his gaze and tilting her nose up dramatically to him.

They stayed like that for a good breath of a moment before they both cracked. Anne’s smile grew again and Gilbert was laughing as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her chastely on the lips. 

“If Rachel sees you, we’ll never hear the end of it.” Anne murmured against his lips when they stopped kissing, but Gilbert didn’t let go of her right away.

He chuckled. “We are getting married today, Anne.” Nevertheless, he did let go and step away to a more respectable distance. They were both up early, too, but Avonlea’s gossip didn’t sleep.

“Is that why you came to visit me so early? To remind me we’re to marry later?” She looked at him teasingly as she leaned her back against the railing.

“I admit that it did cross my mind you may get caught up in one of your stories and forget today was the day.” He teased back. “In truth, I couldn’t wait until this afternoon.”

“You do know that it’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding, right?”

“Then I guess I’m lucky you’re not in your dress yet and that we’ve weathered more than a little bad luck in the past.”

Anne looked at him and then sighed with a happy shake of her head. He was always so fast-witted with her. It was one of the things that both made her love him and made her want to strangle him. 

She looked out in the direction of the road leading to Green Gables thoughtfully and then back to Gilbert. She knew Marilla was already up. Marilla could probably hear them, but she’d be determined not to interrupt. 

“Diana will be here soon. She might get awfully upset to see you here. I won’t be able to protect you from her wrath.” Anne was mostly joking, but there was a kernel of truth to it. 

Gilbert surprised Anne by sobering a little at that. It made her straighten and he suddenly had her full attention. They had known each other long enough now to know when something had changed so suddenly about them. Instead of asking about it, Anne simply looked at him and gave him time to come out with the words on his own.

“Actually… that’s the real reason I came to see you this morning, Anne.” He looked at her and Anne simply said ‘go on’ with her expression. He noted a little bit of worry around the edges of her lips - the sort of worry that she was trying to hold back until she heard the whole story. He felt a warm pang in his chest as he noted it - when she had been younger, she’d have jumped to a conclusion and a tornado of emotions would have formed on the porch. 

Gilbert shifted his weight from one foot to the other which apparently didn’t help Anne’s worry lines and he exhaled, wanting to assuage those feelings. “I just wanted you to know that I know you and Diana have a very strong friendship and that I don’t ever want to take that away from you.”

Anne blinked. At first she was confused and then she smiled softly. “I was never worried about that, Gilbert, but thank you for saying so.” She wasn’t about to let anyone - not even the man she loved and was going to marry - keep her from her bosom friend.

Gilbert didn’t look entirely done with the sentiment, however, as he dipped his head a bit and took a breath to try again. “That’s not quite what I mean, Anne.”

“Then what is it that you do mean, Gilbert?”

“What I mean to say is… Well, I’ve known you for an awfully long time, Anne. I like to think I know you as well as just about anyone could. I also know Diana and watched your friendship have seen you two be friends for quite some time.”

Anne looked at him, still confused, but trying not to get impatient with him. “Yes…?”

“What you and Diana have. It’s a very strong sort of friendship. The strongest I’ve seen between any two people, except perhaps you and me.”

He paused and Anne let out a huff of a breath. “Did you really just come here so early in the morning to state things to me I already know and frustrate me before I’m supposed to agree to marry you for the rest of my life?”

The annoyance in her breath got an automatic smile from Gilbert even though he knew he was doing poorly at talking to her about what he wanted to talk about. When she scolded him like this, it almost sounded like there was such an easy solution and he was being an idiot for not partaking it in.

He took a breath and went for it then. “You love Diana, Anne.” He saw her open her mouth and he barreled on, hoping to explain better. “Not just in a bosom friend sort of way. In the same sort of way you love me.”

He knew he had hit it right because she had fallen speechless instead of arguing or speaking her mind and that rarely happened. In fact, he could see the worry start to seep into those beautiful eyes of her and he stepped forward and took her hands into his. 

“I wanted to tell you that I know and that it’s okay.” He squeezed her hands gently. “I admit that I might not fully understand it myself, but I know she’s important to you and I’ve seen a few moments during while you’ve been organizing the wedding that you seem to think marrying me will take you away from her. I’ve put a lot of thought into this when I say to you that you don’t have to. I love you Anne. I know you love me too and I’m not so proud as to think I could hold your heart entirely to myself. If you love Diana too, then there’s no use in you hiding that away and letting it borrow a hole through your heart.”

Anne was still stunned into silence, but her heart was flooding with warmth. It was like a stream of water slowly gaining strength inside of her. She and Diana had had a few moments in the past with which their feelings had come right out and shown, but they knew that not everyone in Avonlea would understand how two women could possibly love each other so intensely. It was made even more confusing when Anne was finally able to admit that she loved Gilbert too. Suddenly, with Gilbert’s explicit permission, she felt free of confines she didn’t know she had. 

There was a rush of breath from Anne as her face lit up and she wrapped her arms around Gilbert’s neck in a tight hug. It was a very rare thing indeed for Anne Shirley to be stunned into silence for so long, but she couldn’t quite find the right words to express how she suddenly felt.

Finally after what was no doubt far too long to be considered appropriate, Anne pulled back, though her arms rested on his shoulders still. “Gilbert Blythe. I did not know there was anything you could say or do to make me love you more until this very moment.” She kissed him sweetly. “Thank you.”

Gilbert was all smiles. Making Anne happy was one of the things that brought him great joy. He might not have all the answers yet or know what it would look like to have Diana in their lives as someone _more_ , but for Anne he was willing to do just about anything. “I love you, Anne Shirley.”

“I love you too, Gilbert Blythe.”


End file.
